"Won't Work For Food"

(Matt 5:42)"Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you."

I work mostly in the Twin Cities metro area. Minnesota winter hasn't really come full force yet. Which means that lining the on and off ramps of freeways, are cardboard sign holders asking for work or food (Just a side note I just thought of; I have noticed lately that there are actually people that are getting paid to hold signs [yes I realize that these people on freeway ramps are paid to hold their sign as well]. I drove by an Instant Oil Change place yesterday that had a man holding a sign at a busy intersection that said "No Waiting." Also around tax time there are people that are presumably paid to dress up in a statue of liberty blue suit; they hold a sign and are typically very good dancers). Does Jesus mean in Matthew 5 that I need to roll down my window and give money to the beggar holding the cardboard sign?

There are many times that I have, and many more times that I have not. And Jesus does not mean for us to take one sentence out of the whole Bible without seeing what else the Bible says about the subject.

(Matt 7:6) "Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you."

A dog was an animal that was a scavenger that lived on the streets. A pig was an unclean and scavenging animal. The pearl is something of great value. The picture is vivid; you wouldn't take a pearl necklace and place it around the neck of a pig. This verse is typically applied to gospel presentations. It is said that the gospel is the pearl of great price. If you are offering it to someone who treats Jesus with the respect that a pig would, I am no longer responsible to offer the precious gospel to the individual any longer. Least he take the gospel and trample it under it's dirty and stinky pig feet. True, true! But this also applies to giving anything of value to a person who will treat the gift with the contempt a dog or pig would. If I give $20 to a sign holder, and he takes the money to the liquor store to trade it for something he can pour down his throat, and later vomit out; this would be an unwise use of the money God has given me to steward.

(2 Thessalonians 3:10b).."If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat."

Like I mentioned earlier, some people actually have a paid job to hold a sign. Their employer has told the individual that he will pay them for this work. But have you hired the freeway sign holder to hold the sign? Are you his employer? There is discernment needed here I realize this. And I am not about to make a blanket statement that forbids anyone from giving to the need of an individual holding a cardboard sign. My aim in this post is to seek to understand Jesus' words in Matthew 5:42. "Give to the one who begs from you." The borrower and the beggar in Matthews text are begging from me. The freeway sign holder is just begging, and I just happen to be driving by.

Peter and John were heading into the temple at the hour of prayer (Acts 3). There was a beggar that had been lame from birth and was placed everyday near the gate. This is the perfect opportunity for Peter or John to lean their arm out of their donkey and give to the off ramp sign holder some gold coins. What they do is offer the beggar something far more valuable then a few shillings of gold; they give to the man, Jesus Christ.

Sign and miracles were authenticating the Apostles in those days, so Peter was able by faith in the name of Jesus, to heal the lame beggar. I am not able to do this same amazing feat. But what I am able to do is give a gospel tract and speak to the individual of the great salvation that is their's in Christ Jesus, if they place their faith solely in Him. And maybe I could even do this, over a plate of food.